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Clancy: Every part of New Orleans' criminal justice system is broken

If there's one thing on which everyone in the criminal justice system agrees, it's that the system in New Orleans is broken.

NEW ORLEANS — When even one part of a system breaks down, the entire system fails. In the New Orleans criminal justice system, every part is broken in some way — from City Hall and cops to the district attorney and courts.

Here's a case in point: 18-year-old Quinton Skipper's record includes multiple arrests for carjackings and other violent crimes. In a special report last night — and in another tonight at 10 — Eyewitness News investigator Mike Perlstein shows how Skipper literally fell through the cracks in a broken juvenile justice system.

Skipper now faces up to 99 years in jail, after the system turned him loose rather than address his diagnosed mental illness. Skipper's history teaches us a hard lesson: When the criminal justice system breaks down, everyone loses.

RELATED: Repeatedly facing violent crime charges he was out and now suspected of more

RELATED: DA says inmate releases caused by 'system breakdown,' vows change

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